Shall We Dance
by MyLadyScribbler
Summary: It's time for the annual midwinter ball at Hyrule Castle, and Zelda has come down with a terrible cold. With the castle doctors keeping her on bed rest, it seems the ball is out of the question for Zelda...or is it?
1. Sneezes and Sniffles

It's no fun being sick when there's a grand palace ball going on...will Zelda find a way to enjoy the evening with Link in spite of a bad case of the sniffles?

Disclaimers, etc.: _The Legend of Zelda_ is the property of Shigeru Miyamoto and all the kind people at Nintendo.

 **xLoZx**

 **Chapter One: Sneezes and Sniffles**

"Ah-CHOO!"

Zelda blew her nose into a well-used handkerchief - one of several, actually - and slumped back against her pillows, groaning.

She could not believe her rotten luck. Coming down with a terrible cold, right before the midwinter ball at Hyrule Castle: the social event of the winter season in Hyrule.

There was a Triforce for wisdom, one for power, one for courage…why couldn't the gods have created a Triforce for not getting sick on important days, Zelda wondered.

It had started a few days ago, with a scratchy throat. She'd attributed it to dry air in the castle, and went about her business as usual. But it rapidly turned into a full-fledged dungeon monster of a cold, with constant sneezing and a stuffy nose. She'd tried to carry on as best as she could, until, one day, she practically sneezed all over the entire council of lords and ladies during a meeting.

That was when the healers had finally intervened.

"I'm afraid it's bed rest and plenty of fluids for you, Your Highness," the chief physician had said to her.

So that was why Zelda was still in bed on a winter's morning. As sick rooms went, the princess's chambers weren't a bad place to be, with lots of pillows piled on the bed, a roaring fire in the fireplace, and plenty of her favorite books within arm's reach. But for her, it was as good as a prison cell.

Zelda had tried everything to make the cold go away. She'd gulped down mug after mug of hot fluids: tea, broth, and that horrible-tasting head-clearing potion she'd been ordered to take twice a day. She'd tried taking steam baths in the castle's sauna. That worked - but her head always clogged back up five minutes after she got out. In a moment of desperation, she'd even gone down to the castle greenhouse, picked some of the hot peppers that grew there, and chomped into one.

She was still debating whether the numb lips and the burnt tongue were worth the momentary sinus relief.

But today was the day of the ball, and her cold had not abated.

Out in the hallway, Zelda could hear all the castle staff and courtiers buzzing with excitement about the ball. One voice, giggly and shrill, was louder than all the others. It was Celeste, the airheaded daughter of one of Hyrule's council lords. And she was describing every last detail of the gown she'd had made for the ball.

"…and it was made by the VERY best house of fashion in ALL of Hytopia! Why, Madame Couture DESIGNED it HERSELF!" Celeste squealed. Then she prattled on about how she planned to dance with every prince, duke, and otherwise eligible man at the ball. "And I DO hope the Hero of Hyrule will HONOR me with a WALTZ or two!"

"Oh, shut up, Celeste," Zelda muttered.

She sneezed once more and reached for an unused handkerchief: her last one. As she did, her eyes traveled to the dressmaker's form standing next to the wardrobe.

On it was the brand-new ball gown Zelda had been planning to wear that night: a stunning, full-skirted creation of sapphire blue velvet, trimmed with silver braid and enough beads to make it look like a starry winter sky. On the floor next to it sat a pair of blue and silver dancing slippers, fresh out of the court cobbler's workshop.

Zelda's irritation started to turn to sadness. She'd been looking forward to putting on that dress and walking into the great hall on Link's arm.

 _Link…_

He'd been sent on a king's errand over to Termina a few days before, and he was due to arrive back at the castle that day. Formal occasions like the mid-winter ball weren't high on the list of Link's favorite things, but Zelda knew he always loved a chance to dance with her.

If only there was a way to…

"Your Highness?" one of the healers asked through the door.

Zelda sighed. "Come in."

The healer, a plump, middle-aged woman in long gray robes, came in carrying a steaming goblet. "Time for your next dose of potion," she said crisply.

"Thank you, Mistress Melia," Zelda said. She took the goblet, steeled herself, and took a long swig. It tasted like boiled cabbage and swamp water, and she made a face.

"There's no avoiding it, it's the best thing for you," Melia said. "Get some more rest, Your Highness." The door closed behind her.

 _Stupid cold,_ Zelda thought.

 **xLoZx**

More to come! Reviews welcome!


	2. A Hero in a Hurry

Lots of good feedback! As promised, here's the next chapter.

 **xLoZx**

 **Chapter Two: A Hero in a Hurry**

"C'mon, Epona, we're almost home!" Link urged.

Epona snorted loudly.

"I know, girl, I'm cold and wet, too!" Link was shivering terribly, in spite of the heavy wool cloak he wore. The ride back through Hyrule had been a long, unpleasant one. The recent snows had turned the countryside roads into an unending expanse of slush and mud, and quite a bit of that mud now adorned Epona's flanks and Link's clothes.

The only thing that made the ride bearable for Link was the prospect of dancing with Zelda at the ball that evening.

Link cast a worried glance up at the clock tower as he and Epona rode past. He'd hoped to have been back at the castle earlier in the day, but it was now early evening. The ball would be starting in just under an hour.

If he hurried, he'd be able to get cleaned up and dressed for the ball and still have some time to spend with Zelda. Just the two of them before all the ball guests started swarming around.

Link rode in through the castle gates, brought Epona around to the stables and swung himself down. He gave Epona a quick rub-down and got her settled in her stall with a horse blanket and a big bucket of oats. The grooms would have been more than happy to do it for him, but there were some things Link insisted on doing himself.

As he exited the stables, Link's hand went to the hookshot rope attached to his leather satchel…and then he thought better of it. The last time he used that particular "shortcut" into the castle, he'd almost gotten a crossbow bolt in the back from one of the castle guards.

Front door it was, then. He headed for the front doors and bounded up the steps.

"Don't forget to wipe your feet, hero!" one of the guards teased.

Several people greeted Link as he hurried through the corridors on his way upstairs. But there was no sign of Zelda.

 _She's probably in her room getting ready,_ he thought. _Or maybe she's in the library._

Link stopped at his room long enough to drop his satchel, discard his wet, muddy traveling clothes and put on a robe. Then he headed straight for the bathing chamber, where he eagerly sank into a hot bath.

After the long ride, he was sorely tempted just to loll about in the hot water for hours. But he had just enough time to wash the mud out of his hair and give the rest of himself a quick scrub.

Back in his room, he quickly ran a comb through his damp hair before reaching for his winter dress tunic, trousers and cape: all made from fine dark blue wool and trimmed with narrow silver braid. Link wasn't quite used to wearing clothes like these; when he did, he often felt as if he were a peasant boy disguising himself as a prince. But Zelda had told him he looked handsome in them.

Doing up the last clasps on the tunic front, he pulled on his polished black riding boots and fastened the cape around his neck. Then he opened his satchel and took out the sealed letter from the mayor of Clock Town; the king was expecting that.

Link went downstairs to the great hall, which was now decked out in miles of glittering purple, blue, and silver bunting. The musicians for the ball were tuning up in their alcove off to one side, and the first throngs of guests were entering.

But still no sign of Zelda.

Link frowned. Zelda should have been in the great hall by now. Where was she?

"Well, Link, it's good to see you home," Impa said, coming over. Tonight, she wore an elaborate set of turquoise robes with the Sheikah emblem on them. "It sounds like you did well on your first king's errand."

"Thanks, Impa. Have you seen Zelda anywhere? I haven't seen her since I got back."

Impa shook her head sadly. "Zelda's not coming to the ball. She's fallen ill."

Link's face fell.

"Don't worry, she'll be fine in a few days. But I'm afraid there'll be no dancing for her tonight."

"I'm going to go see her right now," Link said.

"Not yet. You need to be here for the ball's opening," Impa said. "Then you may go see Zelda. But only for a little bit. She needs to rest."

Link sighed and followed Impa up to the dais with the thrones. The captain of the guards was up there already, awaiting the king's entrance. By now, the hall was completely filled with guests.

The heralds blasted a fanfare on their trumpets. The midwinter ball was now underway.

 **xLoZx**

Still more to come. As ever, reviews welcome!


	3. Venturing Out

**Chapter Three: Venturing Out**

Zelda could hear the blast of the heralds' trumpets from her room.

She'd allowed herself a moment of moping in the early afternoon. But now, she was determined.

 _I'm not going to spend the night feeling sorry for myself,_ she'd decided. _I'm going to the ball, cold or no cold._

She'd spent the afternoon working it all out. There was a small balcony overlooking the great hall, just down the corridor from her room. A perfect place to see, without being seen.

By the second or third waltz or quadrille, the guests would be enough in the swing of the ball. Their attention would be on the decorations, the lavish clothing of the other guests, the spread of food on the banquet table, and the next dance. No one would notice a princess with a cold hiding on an upper-level balcony.

The corridors outside Zelda's room would be a lot emptier. One of the attendants had brought her some supper earlier, and the healers wouldn't be likely to check on her until morning.

Oh, but one problem. How to let Link know where she was? And where was he? Had he even come back from Termina?

Zelda shook her head. Even watching the ball from a balcony wouldn't be fun without Link.

 _It's probably best if he didn't sit with you. You'll only make him sick._

Zelda started to push herself up from the bed. A wave of dizziness sent her stumbling backwards, and she clutched the bedpost for support. This was going to be a lot harder than she thought.

She started heading for the door, one step at a time.

And then there came a light tap at the door.

 _Not now!_

"Go away," she said irritably.

"Is that any way to welcome home a hero, princess?" Link's voice asked.

Zelda's mood lightened instantly. "Come in!" she rasped.

Link came in, carrying a small plate of sweets from the ball's banquet table. "Brought you some of those cakes you like. Had to arm-wrestle one of the council lords to get them." He crossed the room in a few quick strides, and he and Zelda embraced.

"You're a sight for sore eyes," Zelda mumbled into his shoulder. "I really missed you."

"I missed you too. How are you feeling?"

"I've been sneezing my head off the last two days. So the healers have me penned up here so I won't spread my cold around the entire castle," Zelda said. "I think being told to stay in my room is a lot worse than the cold, honestly."

"Well, I won't let you suffer up here all alone. I'm staying with you for the whole evening."

"That's very noble of you, hero. But you should be downstairs, enjoying yourself."

"The ball's not much fun without you there."

"You don't even want to dance with Celeste?" Zelda teased.

"Oh, gods, no. I'd rather fight another horde of Stalfos."

Both of them laughed at this.

"Your timing is perfect, by the way," Zelda said. "I was going to sneak out to Hylia's Perch."

"That's the little balcony over the thrones, right?"

"That's the one. I used to sneak out of my room late at night and watch all the parties going on when I was little," Zelda said. "Just like old times."

"Well. Let's go then." Link offered Zelda his arm, and the two headed for the door.

They passed the dressmaker's form with Zelda's blue velvet ball gown on it, and they stopped and looked at it for a long moment.

If she was going to sit and watch in secret, she might as well do it in style.

"Give me a moment, Link."

"Can you get into that without help?"

"I think so."

"All right, I'll wait for you outside." Link closed the door behind him.

Zelda pulled off her nightdress and robe and left them on a nearby chair. She lifted the gown off of the dressmaker's form, which took some doing, and carefully manuevered her way into it. Thankfully, the gown was actually a fairly simple design, despite its elaborate appearance; Zelda had convinced the seamstresses to make the dress so that she wouldn't need the help of two maids to put it on.

She checked her appearance in the mirror - not bad for a convalescent, she thought - and slid her feet into the blue and silver slippers. She wasn't going to bother with trying to put on makeup. And she decided just to let her hair hang loose instead of trying to style it.

Link took a deep breath and stared at her as she stepped out into the corridor.

"My hair's a bit of a mess," Zelda began.

"Don't say that, you're beautiful," Link said.

They set off arm in arm down the corridor.

Cheerful music and the chatter of a large crowd drifted up the stairs from the great hall.

Off to one side was a tapestry depicting the goddess Hylia and the Chosen Hero.

"Just through here," Zelda whispered.

They moved the tapestry aside, and stepped out onto Hylia's Perch.

 **xLoZx**

More to come! Reviews welcome!


	4. Almost Perfect

**Chapter Four: Almost Perfect**

From the vantage point of Hylia's Perch, you could see and hear everything.

The great hall was a riot of color, with women in fine silk and velvet gowns and men in ceremonial tunics or armor.

The aromas of roasted meats and just-baked pastries on the banquet tables mingled with the scents of greenhouse flowers and a hundred different kinds of perfume.

Link and Zelda settled themselves down on a couple of chairs to watch the ball, sharing the plate of cakes that Link had brought up with him.

The musicians had just started playing "The Kakariko Windmill:" a lively, fast-paced reel. The dancers on the floor began whirling around in a giant pinwheel pattern.

Just thinking about getting up to dance like that made Zelda's head ache some more. So she contented herself with just tapping her foot to the song's rhythm.

The song ended, and several of the dancers staggered off the floor, looking for a chair to collapse in.

Zelda spotted Celeste moving through the crowd. She was decked out in a giant bell-skirted mass of pink brocade, adorned with at least a ton of lace and ribbons.

"So that's the dress Celeste was bragging about," Zelda said dryly. "I feel really bad for the seamstresses who had to sew all those tiny bows on."

"And I see she's caught some new prey," Link said, referring to the overdressed prince that Celeste was now pulling out onto the dance floor. "Who's that?"

"Oh, that's Prince Cyril from Labrynna. And she can have him." Zelda rolled her eyes. "He kept sending me the most gag-inducing love letters back in the spring. I told him to go kiss a Hinox."

Dance after dance went on, and most of them were up-tempo, lively ones: "The King of Red Lions," "Tetra's Hornpipe," and "The Hateno Village Road."

There was an odd, syncopated dance that seemed to involve the couples running into the middle of the floor and then jumping up into the air. "What kind of dance is that?" Link frowned.

"It's some new dance from the Mushroom Kingdom." Zelda took another cake from the plate and bit into it. "I think they call it the Jumping Plumber."

"Okay, then." Link said in a skeptical sort of voice.

After a short pause - probably to let everyone recover from all the jumping - the musicians started to play another song. And at long last, it was a slow one: one of Zelda's favorite ballads.

The strains of lute and flute music, sweet and vaguely haunting, filled the hall. Couples took to the floor in a slow waltz.

Link and Zelda looked at each other. Then Link stood up and gave Zelda a sweeping bow. "May I have this dance, Your Highness?"

"You certainly may, hero."

Link helped Zelda stand up, making sure that she was completely steady on her feet. Then, they started to slow-dance in place.

Zelda rested her head on Link's shoulder, and he pressed his cheek against hers.

Gradually, Zelda forgot all about her cold: the dizziness, the sneezing, and the headaches. She'd made it to the ball, in her own way, and she'd gotten in a dance with Link.

The moment was almost perfect.

The music came to an end. The next two dances that followed were fast-paced ones, so Link and Zelda sat back down.

After that, there was another slow song, so Link and Zelda were able to get in one more slow dance. But when the dance ended, Zelda started feeling woozy and feverish again.

"Zelda, are you all right?" Link asked. "You're shivering."

"I think I've had enough for one night," Zelda said. She sniffled and rubbed the side of her head. "I'm getting all stuffed up again."

"Okay, let's get you back before the healers realize you're out of bed." Link took off his cape and draped it over Zelda's shoulders. "Did you have a good time?"

"I did. Thank you." Zelda smiled wanly. "In spite of my sneezes and sniffles. I think it's been the most a…ah…AH…"

Link looked terrified. "Oh, no…"

There was a sneeze coming on, and a big one. Zelda tried to hold it in, clutching her arm against her mouth.

Both of them waited. The sneeze seemed to die down, and Zelda cautiously lowered her arm.

"Better?" Link asked.

"I think I'm safe now," Zelda said.

The two of them started to turn back toward the tapestry-covered doorway.

And then the sneeze burst out of Zelda. "AH-CHOO!"

The sneeze was loud enough to echo all over the great hall. Several hundred pairs of eyes turned to look up at Hylia's Perch.

Among those looking up were the king, Impa, and Mistress Melia.

"Uh-oh," Link and Zelda said in unison.

 **xLoZx**

One more to go! Reviews welcome!


	5. More Sneezes and Sniffles

And here we are at the end of our story!

 **xLoZx**

 **Chapter Five: More Sneezes and Sniffles**

"Now, Princess Zelda." Impa was trying to use her best scolding tone, but the smile tugging at her face gave her away. "Unless the healers have a very interesting definition of bed rest, I don't believe they meant 'get dressed in your finest clothes and slip out to watch the ball.'"

She, Zelda, and Link were off to one side of the great hall, with Zelda and Link sitting on chairs and Impa standing over them - all the better for lecturing. The ball guests were starting to depart for the night.

"You know that the healers have your best interests at heart, and that venturing out while you're still sick makes their job harder. And it means you'll take longer to get better," Impa continued.

"Yes, Impa, I know," Zelda said resignedly.

"And Link, you should have known this as well. You're a king's man now, and the Hero of Hyrule."

"Yes, Impa," Link said, looking down at his boots.

Impa's gaze softened. "Now then. Did you two at least have a good time? You did? Good." Impa smiled. "In any event, you're not the first princess in the history of the kingdom to go sneaking out of her sick room to go to a ball."

A lot of the guests had been surprised to see Zelda, seeing as the king had announced at the start of the ball that Zelda was indisposed. But they were generally pleased to see her. And there had been a little bit of teasing.

"So you made it after all, Zel!"

"Must be some kind of miracle cure you're taking for that cold!"

"I think they heard that sneeze all the way over in the Lost Woods!"

Celeste definitely looked jealous: both of Zelda's dress and the fact that she was on Link's arm. And Prince Cyril was definitely looking at Link with undisguised envy.

The king of Hyrule hadn't been surprised at all that Zelda and Link had snuck out to the ball. He'd long since realized that trying to keep his daughter anywhere she didn't want to be was an exercise in futility. "Well, how's the ailing princess?" he'd asked. "You're not looking like the living death anymore, that's good. Link, you've been doing your duty by her for the evening? Good man."

Melia came over, wearing her healer's robes over her ball gown - along with a rather disgruntled expression. "Excuse me, Impa, but I need to check the princess's vitals." She took Zelda's temperature and asked a few questions about congestion and swelling. "Hmm. You seem to be on the mend. But I don't want you making a habit of this, understand?" Then Melia turned her attention to Link. "You've been around her all evening, so you're probably going to catch what she has. Come by the healer's office tomorrow and get a dose of potion."

Link sighed melodramatically as Melia left.

"It's getting late, Zelda, so you should probably turn in. And Link, you should do the same," Impa said.

"I thought we were in for it there for a moment," Link said as they headed upstairs.

"My father's always had a sense of humor about this. And Impa's got a soft spot as well. It was Melia I was afraid of. But she wasn't so bad this time," Zelda said.

"Are you still glad we sneaked out?"

"Every bit."

"Me too."

Back at Zelda's room, the two of them exchanged one last good-night hug before Link departed for his own room.

But Melia's prediction was correct; Link came down with a cold of his own a few days later. So it was Zelda's turn to visit Link as he lay on his sickbed.

"This is how I repay you for helping me slip out to the ball," Zelda shook her head. She was mostly better now, but still woozy.

"It's all right, Zelda, I would have gotten sick anyway," Link said between sneezes. "There was a bad cold going around Termina when I was there."

Zelda rested her chin against the back of the chair she sat on. "There's another ball coming up later in the winter. And the big winter carnival in Kakariko Village. Hopefully we'll both be better by then."

"I hope so too," Link agreed. "I want another chance to dance with you. For real." He leaned back against his pillows. "So what'd you use to help with the cold? That potion Melia gave me is awful."

Zelda thought for a moment. "Well, the castle sauna's always good. And there's the hot peppers down in the greenhouse if you're really desperate."

 **xLoZx**

The end...for now! Reviews welcome!


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